The 5 Go-to-Market Influencers You Need to Know
April 26, 2012
OpenView Labs scoured the Internet to find the most qualified experts who can help your company develop a cohesive go-to-market strategy.
A go-to-market strategy is a unified, multi-disciplinary approach to bringing products and services to the marketplace. While many companies have traditionally treated their marketing, sales, customer service, and product teams as autonomous functions with little interaction, those with a well-developed go-to-market strategy bring these functions together to help achieve profitable growth.
This approach requires alignment across the company’s outward-facing functions with respect to whom they’re targeting, what their product messaging is, and how they’re representing the company.
One of the greatest challenges in defining a go-to-market strategy is overcoming the frequent misalignment between marketing and sales. These functions need to work together to drive consensus and help develop a corporate point of view. By bringing both parties together in the development of the firm’s point of view, for instance, you not only create a provocative and compelling message, but one that everyone has ownership in.” — Britton Manasco
Doing so successfully is no easy task, and many companies need help getting started. With that in mind, OpenView Labs recently scoured the Internet to find experts who can help your company achieve this alignment and develop a cohesive go-to-market strategy.
After wading through thousands of potential candidates, here are the five we found most qualified in go-to-market strategies based on their social media presence, blog traffic, and above all, the quality of their content.
These are the five go-to-market influencers you should know:
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Andrew HuntCEO, Inbound Sales NetworkWho he is: Andrew Hunt is the founder of Inbound Sales Network, which helps companies with the ongoing transition from traditional sales and marketing practices to Internet marketing. He has more than 15 years of senior sales and marketing experience, and works to help companies increase their performance efficiency. What we like about him: Rather than focusing on just sales or marketing, Andrew strives to drive efficiency across a company’s entire sales funnel from lead generation to closing a sale. In his blog, he advocates consistent, buyer-centric messaging across all customer-facing aspects of the organization. Follow him on Twitter: @inboundsales |
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Jim LoganFounder, SaleskickWho he is: As the founder of Saleskick, a company that helps other organizations sell faster, Jim leads most of the firm’s sales coaching and consulting projects. His specialty is taking complex business products and services and making them easy to understand. His professional background includes selling and leading teams that have sold tens of millions of dollars worth of hi-tech products and services worldwide to Fortune 100 clients and regional businesses alike. What we like about him: While Saleskick is explicitly about sales, it has a keen sense of how the function integrates with the company as a whole. The firm’s upcoming rollout of sister sites Webkick and Copykick illustrate Jim’s multidisciplinary approach. Find out more by listening to this recent Labcast with Logan and by checking out his recent guest posts to OpenView Labs: Core Story: How Sales Advantages Fit into the Benefit Discussion and 6 Things You Should Do If You Just Lost Your Biggest Customer. Follow him on Twitter: @jslogan
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Britton ManascoPrincipal, Manasco Marketing PartnersWho he is: Britton specializes in creating thought leadership marketing and sales enablement solutions to help companies articulate their value propositions more effectively. He’s the co-founder of Manasco Marketing Partners and produces a thought leadership strategy blog called Elevation. What we like about him: Britton advocates a multi-pronged approach of thought leadership, content marketing, and targeted sales when going after a deal. Follow him on Twitter: @brittonmanasco |
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Paul MosensonFounder, NuSpark MarketingWho he is: Paul is a seasoned go-to-market veteran with 25 years of experience in B2B marketing and consumer marketing, with unique expertise in traditional, interactive, and social media. Through NuSpark Marketing, the company he founded in 2010, he helps companies build thoughtful marketing strategy and tactics that cover the entire sales cycle. What we like about him: Paul and NuSpark focus equally on each stage of the sales cycle: planning, traffic, leads, and sales. Driving all of their content is buyer persona and segmentation research. Follow him on Twitter: @NuSparkMktg |
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Bill RiceFounder and CEO, KaleidicoWho he is: Bill is the founder and CEO of Kaleidico, a digital marketing agency that specializes in helping companies use the Web to generate opportunities, source competitive intelligence, and manage their online reputation and crises. He also runs a sales blog, BetterCloser. Bill has nearly two decades of experience in marketing and sales in a variety of industries from Internet security to financial services. What we like about him: While Bill segments his writing into traditional marketing and sales buckets, it’s clear from his content that he views each of these disciplines, as well as market research and goal alignment, as part of an organization’s larger go-to-market strategy. Follow him on Twitter: @billrice |